It really must be 2016 again because the Warriors look awesome

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time this morning.

Picture this: The nation is in disarray after a tumultuous and divisive election season. We’re all exhausted. You turn on the TV and, BOOM. There he is. Steph Curry, in all of his glory, shooting 3-point bombs over defenders tightly draped on his jersey.

That’s a sentence you could certainly have typed in 2016 when the Golden State Warriors were at their absolute apex — the Kevin Durant version.

The version of that team that we watched against the Celtics on Wednesday night is not that version — make no mistake about it. But I’d be lying to you if I said this team doesn’t give me that same peak-Warriors feeling I had back then.

I’m not going to lie to y’all: I thought the Warriors were dead. I thought they were done. Cooked, as they say.

Golden State’s golden trio disbanded when Klay Thompson left. He wasn’t good last season, but he was a key part of that team’s identity. I couldn’t believe it when it happened — most of you couldn’t either.

SPLASH BROS 4 LIFE: Steph still misses his buddy.

Usually, when losing a core piece that helped shape a team’s identity for years like Thompson did, it takes a while to recover. You have to find yourself again as a team.

I don’t think anybody had that team pegged as one of the best in the NBA coming into this season. But today? That’s exactly what that team is.

Golden State went toe-to-toe on the road with the reigning champion Boston Celtics and gave one of the best defensive efforts we’ve seen against that team in a long, long time. The Warriors held Boston to 16 second-quarter points — the team’s lowest-scoring quarter this season so far.

The Warriors are impressive again. This looks like a championship outfit. We’re only eight games into the season, but the team’s +15.5 point differential says as much. And, remember, three of those games were played without Steph Curry. He’s the straw that stirs the drink, sure. But the mix of talent is good. It’s working in a way that we all thought couldn’t work again. It’s been fun to see.

There are some caveats to throw in here. The Celtics are not healthy. Jaylen Brown didn’t play for a third straight game because of a hip injury. Kristaps Porzingis has been out all season. If all goes according to plan for Boston, this is not the complete team they’ll be playing with into June.

With that said, this is still a really impressive win. And, it’s way too early for championship predictions, but I know I’d love to see seven more of these things this summer.

Sending love to Pop

Gregg Popovich hasn’t been on the Spurs’ sideline recently because of an undisclosed health issue that, quite frankly, has me concerned.

It has our Prince Grimes concerned, too. He wrote about it in Wednesday’s edition of the Layup Lines newsletter (subscribe here!). Prince asks us to keep Popovich in our thoughts the same as he’s kept all of us in his through all these years.

What a beautiful thought. Here’s more:

“It’s obviously too soon to jump to any conclusions, and we can take comfort in interim coach Mitch Johnson saying Popovich will be OK. But today especially feels like a good time to send thoughts and well wishes to Popovich. For one, because it’s the human thing to do. But also because Popovich always seems to have us in his thoughts, with a big emphasis on “US.”

Pop has never been shy about using his platform to speak about the most pressing issues facing our country. Even when it hasn’t been the most beneficial for him to do so, he’s delivered strong messages on social issues in times we’ve seemed most divided — like we do today. Popovich frequently uses his voice to speak for people whose voices can’t reach the places his can. Even if that means sparring with the former and future president.”

Wise words, as usual, from Prince.

Dak may be done

The news about Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury has progressively gotten worse and worse with each update.

First, he was shifted to an injured reserve slot for the Cowboys, signaling that he’d be out for the next four weeks at least. Now, it seems, the quarterback might need season-ending surgery on his hamstring, according to the latest from the Dallas Morning News. 

THE REPLACEMENTS: Here are five potential replacements for Prescott, including his current backups.

Prescott reportedly suffered a partial avulsion of his right hamstring tendon. To be frank with you, I have no idea what any of that means, but none of it sounds good. It’s apparently bad enough that team officials are trying to determine whether surgery is the right route to go.

At this point, you might as well, Dallas’ season isn’t going great, anyway. There’s no sense in keeping Prescott around and rushing him back to play on a bad hamstring. Just end the season right here.

Maybe next year will be the year, Dallas fans. Probably not. But you never know!

Quick hits: Carrying Caitlin Clark’s torch … Pope Francis is a Saints fan??? … and more

— Here’s Meg Hall on Taylor McCabe shooting logo threes at Iowa like Caitlin Clark did. This is wonderful.

— Pope Francis keeps tweeting about the Saints and I know he’s not doing it on purpose but it feels like it’s on purpose. Anyway, Charles Curtis has more.

— Cory Woodroof has 10 NFL free agents who could change the second half of the season for a team.

— Steve Kerr delivered a MAGA joke after the Warriors win. If you need a laugh after yesterday, please click.

— LeBron James delivered a heartfelt message about his daughter after the election on Wednesday. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

— Here’s the Starbucks Holiday menu! Thanks, Charles.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate your time. Have a great day.

Peace.

-Sykes